


In the Summertime

by dancing_in_the_rain



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Summer, Swimming, it turns into something more
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21680146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancing_in_the_rain/pseuds/dancing_in_the_rain
Summary: Upon realising the outside pool near Lena's balcony was actually hers and that she wasn't very confident in the water, Kara's determined to teach Lena how to swim. Can the friends focus on lessons or will learning to swim turn their friendship into something more.Summer time au
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 8
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> meant to be writing and updating other things but I couldn't get this au out of my head so had to post, also this fic is set within the year Lena moved to National City

Kara had been to Lena’s apartment, of course she’d been. They’d have regular movie nights ending in Kara staying the night in the guest room, evening drinks after a long week, Kara even went over to look after Lena when she caught a bad case of the flu a few weeks back. In all these visits Kara never realised Lena had her own private swimming pool.

The penthouse pool was to the right of Lena’s balcony, out of sight when just looking out the sliding doors. The pool was rectangular in shape and at a guess around 10 meters long. Kara had obviously seen the pool when she would fly overhead but never thought that much of it until a hot summers day when she was doing a patrol of the city. It was a Saturday afternoon and after listening more closely she found that somewhat surprisingly Lena was at home.

Hearing the familiar sound of boots touching down on the balcony, Lena looked up from where she was in the kitchen to see Kara standing there with a smile. Lena had been grateful when Kara finally told her she was Supergirl. Although she had been angry and hurt at first, finding it hard to accept their first few months of friendship were based on lies. But after time and genuine discussions with Kara about trust and other things, Lena found it hard to continue resenting her friend. Looking back on the moment Kara had told her Lena dreaded to think how she would have handled it if Kara had waited any longer to tell her.

“Hey.” She spoke as Kara walked through the open balcony doors.

“Hey Lena.” Kara grinned almost skipping up to the kitchen.

“Want one?” Lena asked holding up her sandwich she had almost finished.

“I’d love one.” Kara replied taking a seat at the kitchen counter, watching as Lena moved about the kitchen. “Lena?”

“Hmm?” She looked up from the tomato she was slicing.

“How come I didn’t know you had your own pool?” Kara asked.

“I don’t know.” Lena shrugged, “I haven’t been hiding it, surely you’ve seen it?” She added, wondering if Kara really missed the presence of a pool by her balcony.

“Yeah, I just never really clicked it was yours.” Kara explained.

“Right well you’re more than welcome to have a swim.” Lena laughed lightly as she finished up Kara’s sandwich.

“Really?”

“Of course.” Lena handed Kara the plate. “Here you go.”

“Thanks Lena.” Kara smiled and took a huge bite of the sandwich. “Can we go see the pool?” She asked with her mouth still semi full.

Lena laughed and nodded her head as she led the way through the lounge and down the hall to the pool area. There were two pool lounge chairs on one side next to them, a small undercover outdoor bar and in the far-right corner of the area was a spa pool.

“It’s been so hot recently, I bet you’re in here all the time.” Kara spoke as she moved closer to the pool to dip her free hand in.

Lena just stayed quiet as she leaned on the door.

“Lena?” Kara looked back at her after feeling the cool temperature of the pool.

“Yeah?”

“Do you go swimming a lot cause of how hot it’s been getting?” Kara asked finishing her sandwich.

“Uh…no.” Lena hesitated slightly not meeting Kara’s eye.

“How come?” Kara walked back over to Lena, knowing something was off with her best friend.

“I find the air conditioning inside cools me down enough.” Lena rushed her answer out.

“Right.” Kara nodded her head. “Would you come for a swim with me?”

“My swimsuit is actually out at the dry cleaners.” Lena answered just as fast.

“Lena?” Kara was now sure something was wrong but knew if she outright asked, Lena would deny there being any problem.

“Kara?” Lena looked at her with a questioning, almost warning look.

“But you just said you don’t swim often?” Kara tried again.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t like things clean.” Lena countered.

“Surely you’ve got more than one pair. Come on, this is the perfect day for it!”

“I can’t swim Kara!” Lena raised her voice slightly. “That’s what you wanted to hear isn’t it?” Lena turned embarrassed and began to walk inside.

“Hey.” Kara reached out and gently held Lena’s wrist

“Just don’t Kara, I’m embarrassed enough, I don’t need you judging me.” Lena looked down at Kara’s hand shaking her head.

“I’m sorry for pushing but I’m not judging, just surprised is all. Wondering why you’d have a pool if you can’t swim?”

“It was already built in when I bought the apartment.” Lena said quietly still not quite meeting Kara’s eye. “I use the spa sometimes but not often.”

Kara used her other hand to gently tilt Lena’s chin up.

“Let me teach you?” Kara spoke softly when green eyes met hers.

“What?” Lena whispered, completely captured by Kara’s eyes and her touch, rendering her practically useless. She had told herself a million times before she needed to get a hold of this stupid little (huge) crush, but Kara always made it so difficult.

“Can I teach you how to swim?” Kara repeated with a small smile.

“Uh yeah.” Lena nodded her head actually hearing what Kara said this time. “If you want to and have time I don’t want to be a burden.” She added quickly taking half a step back, needing to distance herself to function properly. Kara’s hand at her chin dropping back to her side.

“Lena you’re never a burden.” Kara told her, moving the hand around Lena’s wrist to holding her hand giving it a soft squeeze.

Lena just gave Kara a small smile, willing her heart to slow down because there was no doubt that Kara could hear it.

**The next day.**

Lena was standing in her modest black one-piece swimsuit, showing slightly more cleavage than she remembered since the last time she had put it on. She was looking at herself in her floor length mirror when she heard a splash indicating Kara was now in the pool. In the pool and waiting for her. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Lena had never been that fond of water, but she guessed it had something to do with her little exposure to it. As a kid, her and Lex never went swimming, at the summer house they were allowed on the beach but not near the water. Lena had cemented her dislike for water at a house party she attended in her collage years when she was pushed into the deep end and if it hadn’t been for some jocks already in the pool helping her out she hated to think how that night may have ended. Since then she never found herself in a situation that required her to swim or get in deep water so she never learned.

Actually swimming was only half of the reason why Lena was nervous the other was the fact she was going to see Kara in a bathing suit and that Kara was going to see her. Her heart couldn’t handle it. She knew from various hugs with Kara that she was essentially ripped, and well she was the woman of steel. Lena didn’t know what she’d do if she actually saw all her muscles. One lunch recently Kara been wearing a singlet explaining she had just come from sparring with Alex, Lena hadn’t been able to form coherent sentence for a good ten minutes, her eyes glued to Kara’s arms. Letting out a sigh Lena grabbed a towel from her bathroom and wrapping it around her waist made her way to the pool.

When Lena stepped outside Kara was underwater and it was like a slow-motion scene in a movie when she came up to the surface. Lena was certain her jaw dropped. From the way the water dripped off Kara’s sun kissed skin to the way she flipped her hair out of her face, Lena was done for. This was a bad idea, a very bad idea.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey Lena.” Kara spoke bringing Lena out of her haze, noticing the slight colour in her cheeks.

“Hey.” Lena replied with a smile, moving over to one of the lounge chairs and sitting down, trying to ignore how the sight of Kara in a bikini was making her feel certain things. From her arms to her abs Lena was screwed, this not so little crush on her best friend was getting out of hand. Kara was wearing a dark blue halter neck bikini top that had a cream and white floral pattern. Lena had no doubt the bottoms were matching.

“Are you coming in?” Kara asked as she swam over to the edge closest to Lena, resting her arms on the side of the pool.

“Yeah.” Lena nodded her head a couple of times before standing. Unwrapping the towel from around her waist Lena folded it before putting it down on the chair.

It was now Kara’s turn to gawk as she looked up at Lena. She always knew her best friend was gorgeous, but Lena in a swimsuit was, wow. It was only recently that Kara had begun to understand her true feelings towards her best friend. And she was head over heels. The realisation had hit her one night like a slap in the face and she was at Alex’s apartment before she could blink. The two sisters talked for hours, Alex telling Kara she was proud of her and Kara smiling as her own words were repeated back to her. Go get the girl. Except when she had told Alex it had seemed a whole lot easier. Kara spent a long time being nervous, she didn’t even know if Lena liked girls. But Alex insisted the Luthor was already in love with her and that it was painfully obvious. Still Kara didn’t want to get her hopes up when it came to love so decided that being Lena’s best friend was better than nothing, and that she was happy to be a part of her life. But it was becoming harder and harder for Kara to not want more and seeing Lena in her swimsuit was doing nothing to help her self control.

Lena could see Kara staring and felt herself go red again as she moved to the side of the pool. Biting back the urge to ask Kara if she saw something she liked, she sat down on Kara’s left and dangled her legs in the water.

“You alright?” Kara asked putting a hand on Lena’s knee.

“Yeah.” Lena nodded. “Just a little nervous I guess.” She laughed slightly, eyes on Kara’s hand at her knee willing her thoughts to behave.

“You’ll be ok, I won’t let anything bad happen.” Kara looked up a Lena seriously.

“I know.” Lena smiled, placing her hand over Kara’s.

The pair smiled at each other for a moment that was longer than strictly necessary before Lena moved forward lowering herself into the pool. Lena stood on her tip toes, releasing a breath at the slightly cool temperature. The shallow end where the pair stood wasn’t too deep the water coming up to just above Lena’s waist.

“We’ll start with getting used to floating.” Kara told her with a soft smile, walking backwards so the water was slightly deeper.

“Yeah ok.” Lena nodded her head following Kara. Floating how hard could that be she thought to herself…

“So, it can sometimes help to start off by taking a deep breath, cause with more air in your lungs floating becomes easier.” Kara explained then proceeded to give Lena a quick demonstration of what to do. As she lay on her back Kara had her arms outstretched either side of her. “Keeping your arms out like this will also help with stability.”

Lena nodded her head, quietly enjoying the excuse to look at her friends’ arms whilst also trying not to be hypnotised by how her golden hair splayed out in the water.

“Your turn.” Kara smiled righting herself. “I’ll be right here.”

Turns out floating was a lot harder than expected. Lena closed her eyes for a moment and tried to focus on her breathing and not the way Kara’s hands were under her. The gentle touch distracting Lena more than she would like to admit, although the sensation of having her ears under the water hearing each breath she took, kept her grounded with a somewhat uneasy feeling.

Obviously Kara had held Lena before, there was the first time she’d met her saving her from the helicopter, when she was pushed over her balcony and a few other times they had fallen asleep on the couch at movie night. But this, holding Lena ever so gently in the water felt like a new level of intimacy that Kara was fast trying to process.

“That’s it you’re doing great!” She found her voice after a moment.

And Lena was, but unfortunately it didn’t last.

It wasn’t a moment later that Lena felt Kara starting to take her hands back and she let out a breath, causing her to sink slightly and her panic to rise. “Kara, I can’t-” Lena gasped, her arms coming down to her sides and in an instant she felt herself sinking further. Trying to bring herself into a sitting position before her head went under Lena felt Kara’s hands on her again. This time helping her right herself until her feet were touching the ground.

Where they were now the water in pool was at Lena’s chest, leaving her with the feeling that her feet weren’t firmly on the ground so she held onto Kara’s arm that was near her side.

“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.” Lena shook her head slightly, “You’ve got a whole city out there that could need you and you’re here trying to teach me how to swim.”

“Lena, I want to be here. And I want to teach you how to swim.” Kara explained, moving back a little to give Lena space. “And besides J’onn knows Sunday is sort of my day off, unless it’s an emergency.”

Lena reached out and gripped Kara’s arm. “Don’t go far, please.” She spoke quietly.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Lena paused looking at Kara and took a breath.

“I’m going to get out now, thank you for wanting to do this but I just- I really can’t I’m sorry.” Lena rushed out, holding onto Kara’s hand for as long as she could, making her way to the side of the pool to hold onto that instead.

“Lena.” Kara spoke softly, letting her go.

“I’m sorry Kara.” Lena looked back as she reached the ladder at the shallow end. “I’ll see you tomorrow for coffee.” She added with a quick smile, whilst getting out of the pool and grabbing her towel.

Kara watched her go, opening her mouth to say something but not finding the words.

**The next evening.**

Lena sat on her couch curled up with her current book. The day had been a bit busier than usual for L-Corp standards so she wasn’t able to meet up with Kara for coffee. She had sent her an apology and proposed to reschedule for tomorrow, so Lena was quite surprised when she heard a gentle tap on her balcony door. So absorbed in her reading she hadn’t even heard Kara land. Putting her book down Lena smiled, “Come in.”

“I brought snacks.” Kara held up a bag.

“Of course you did.” Lena laughed, patting the space beside her on the couch.

Lena grabbed the tv remote and handed it to Kara, she couldn’t remember which Disney movie was next on the list but was sure Kara knew. When Lena had told her she hadn’t really watched any Disney movies Kara was shocked to say the least and had demanded they start watching them all immediately. Lena knew there was no point in arguing and enjoyed watching how excited Kara would get each time they sat down to watch one.

Tonight, they spoke about how their days went whilst Kara flicked through the list of movies she had saved to Lena’s watch list. Lena told her why L-Corp had been busy and Kara retailed a fight that she had had with a rouge alien that afternoon. Chat about their respective days quietened as Kara had chosen the movie for tonight and after telling Lena it was one of her favourites pressed play and Lilo and Stitch started.

They had gotten nearly halfway through the movie when Kara couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“So” Kara started.

“So”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead” Lena nodded, pressing pause on the remote.

“Why don’t you like swimming?”

Lena sighed with a small smile, she knew Kara would be wanting some sort of explanation for yesterday.

“I guess growing up Lillian never thought swimming was necessary. Lex and I were never allowed near water. On the odd occasion she would let us go down to the beach at the summer house, but always had someone watching us, so we stayed clear of the water.”

Kara listened closely but couldn’t help thinking of how different it was growing up with the Danvers.

“There was an incident at a collage party, I was pushed into the pool and two guys that were already in there help me out almost immediately, but that was enough to put me off learning to swim myself.”

Lena knew when her real dislike of water started, the thought of her mother had her heart sinking to her stomach. She wasn’t ready to bring up all those feelings with Kara, especially when they were having such a nice night. She’d tell Kara about it eventually.

“But I’ve got you to save me now if anything ever goes wrong, right?”

“Of course you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is late! I have a New Years resolution to be more timely with updating my writing, especially for fics like this one where I have a decent plan of where it's heading :)
> 
> I hope you have all had a safe and happy holiday season filled with rest and love xx


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